Why Candidates Must Be Held Accountable

The federal debt is hitting the $15 trillion mark this month, and it is projected to continue growing rapidly in the years ahead – even assuming the economy fully recovers and U.S. military commitments abroad are reduced.

“Absent reform, we will leave our children and future generations with enormous debt, a weaker economy, higher taxes , lower living standards and a diminished international role,” wrote Robert L. Bixby and Sara Imhof of The Concord Coalition in a guest column Sunday in the Des Moines Register. Bixby is Concord’s executive director and Imhof is its Midwest regional director.

“Short-term thinking, excessive partisanship and political cowardice have contributed to the failure of elected officials in Washington to put the country on a more sustainable path,” they added. Last summer Congress created the special committee on deficit reduction in hopes it could improve on that record.